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Food security—access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life—is one requirement for a healthy, well-nourished population. ERS plays a leading role in Federal research on food security in U.S.

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Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2019, describes trends in economic, structural, resource, and environmental indicators in the agriculture sector. The indicators covered in this report provide assessments of important ch...

Per capita U.S. availability of fresh tomatoes averaged 20.7 pounds a year in 2010-17, up from 12 pounds in the early 1980s, reflecting growing imports, changing demographics and tastes, and emerging protected-culture technologies.

In a typical week, 14 percent of at-home meal preparers used food thermometers when preparing meat and 2 percent consumed or served raw milk. This report examines food-safety practices of U.S. at-home meal preparers.

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Southeast Asia’s expanding population and increasing incomes, urbanization, and retail sectors are contributing to rising meat consumption and growing imports of feedstuffs. According to USDA’s International Long-Term Projections to 2028, t...

Droughts are among the most frequent causes of crop yield losses, failures, and subsequent crop revenue losses across the world. In corn, a major U.S. row crop with significant water needs, water stress can lead to fewer and smaller kernels...

A recent ERS study estimated the economic impacts if 90 percent of infants participating in WIC in 2016 were breastfed for 12 months and received no infant formula. Under this scenario, mothers would stay in the program longer and annual WI...

Small Business Loans and Rural Business Growth

Access to readily available capital can help rural small businesses succeed. A majority of rural businesses are small- and medium-sized firms. However, compared to large firms, these firms often have difficulty accessing capital from the formal financial market. Banks may be hesitant to lend because smaller loans may be less profitable and may have higher default rates.

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), enacted in 1977, encourages financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of low-income residents and smaller firms. For small nonfarm businesses, the maximum CRA loan amount is $1 million; for small farm businesses, the maximum is $500,000. However, according to the data reported by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), most loans issued are small (less than $100,000). The FFIEC groups loans into three sizes: $100,000 or less, $100,001 to $250,000, and over $250,000 up to the respective maximum for each loan type.

Between 2000 and 2015, rural counties received smaller loan amounts per capita than urban counties for small business loans recorded under CRA regulations. Per capita measures account for differences in population size, making rural and urban data comparable. In 2000, the per capita loan amount for urban counties was $1,006, compared to $760 for rural counties. Loan amounts generally increased for urban counties until 2007, with a downward tick in 2005—before declining in 2009 to the lowest reported levels during that period. Loan amounts for rural counties followed a similar pattern with a shallower peak before the Great Recession, but per capita loan amounts lagged the urban amounts and continued to stagnate after the Recession.

Since the goal of CRA is to help meet the credit needs of small businesses, a recent study examined county data to assess the impact of CRA lending practices on small business outcomes. The study found that, between 1996 and 2010, receiving higher CRA loan amounts had a statistically significant positive effect on small business startups in both rural and urban counties. Small CRA loans (those under $100,000) had the largest impact in rural areas. With other factors constant, doubling the number of the small CRA loans increased the startup growth in rural counties by 26 percent—compared to just 7 percent in urban counties.